1. Field of Use
The invention relates generally to a wire conveying clamp assembly for conveying accurately sized electrical wire leads and precisely positioning them in respect to a wire terminal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of apparatus exist for mass production of insulated electrical wire leads having electrical terminals attached to one or both ends of each lead. Such apparatus typically includes a reel of wire, a feed mechanism for drawing a strand of wire from the reel, a severing mechanism for cutting a wire segment of predetermined length from the strand, a conveyor mechanism having releasable conveyor clamps for gripping the wire segment and for conveying it to a wire stripping mechanism wherein one or both ends are stripped of insulation and then to a terminal attachment mechanism wherein electrical terminals are attached to one or both stripped ends of the wire segment, whereupon the finished lead is conveyed to a collecting station and the conveyor clamps open to deposit the finished lead thereat. Such an apparatus is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,808 issued on Aug. 21, 1979, to Gudmestad et. at.
Presently known machines of this general type have some shortcomings in respect to certain applications. Such prior machines typically comprise a wire-locating member attached to the machine frame and a plurality of clamp assemblies secured to and rotatable with a chain, the chain being entrained about and movable about a pair of sprockets. The prior art clamps immobilize the wires during processing, as for example at the wire stripping and terminal attachment stations, and as the clamps approach the other wire processing stations, the speed of the chain decreases, finally stopping upon reaching each station. At the terminal attachment station, the wire locating member is designed to move downwardly and towards the wires, engaging their insulated portions and ensuring that they are properly positioned so that the wires may be attached to the terminals.
The wire segments during processing are held in generally parallel, adjacent relationship on a clamp assembly between a clamp housing and a vertically movable clamp arm. Although the spacing of adjacent wires is relatively uniform along the portions of their respective lengths that are held between the clamp arm and the clamp housing, the spacing of adjacent wires is not uniform near the wire ends. As the wire locating member of prior art machines is located on the machine frame and not on the clamp, it may approach the insulated wire portions near the wire ends. Because the adjacent wire ends may not be equally spaced, the wire locating member may not properly engage the wires and as a result the wire ends may not be positioned for proper terminal attachment. This problem may be exacerbated by an overly slack chain, causing the wire clamps to stop short of their proper stations. The importance of uniformspacing between wires along their lengths, particularly at the wire ends, and of accurate location of clamps adjacent the stations increases with the number of wires simultaneously processed per clamp and the fineness of the wires processed.